


DNR

by Bobblychicken



Category: Cars (Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 14:58:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4396328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobblychicken/pseuds/Bobblychicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-Shot. Dusty Crophopper saves the lives of two people, but ends up biting it big time. Filler material that takes place immediately after Dusty is pulled from the forest and dropped onto the tarmac at the Piston Peak Air Attack base during Planes: Fire and Rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	DNR

Blade knew it was serious when he heard Maru utter a casual-sounding “Whoa...” upon popping Dusty’s hood. Although his engine was miraculously intact, he was losing a huge amount of vital fluids, so much so that it was difficult to make out exactly which hoses were actually leaking from the ones that weren’t. _Well that settles where I should start now, don't it?_

And it was slow going. Maru punched the button to turn off the Code alarm again as he continued to work on clamping off the leaking hoses. It was the third time the damned thing went screaming out over the base, and nerves from members of the team that were present at one time or another were starting to get frayed. It was an awful, ear-bending, nerve-twisting noise, alternating between a forlorn wailing and a repetitive double ping. It was automatically triggered in the event that a patient’s vital signs slipped to critical levels, and was meant to be heard from anywhere on the base.  
Maru hadn’t even noticed how long he’d already worked until he heard Blade give a small cough in the hangar doorway. He glanced over at him but otherwise didn’t deviate from the task at hand, which was starting to become infuriating. Every bit of progress made would be followed by some sort of setback and the alarm going off. It hardly felt like there was any progress occurring at all.

“It’s a good thing you got him back when you did. If you’d waited for the Jumpers he would have bled out before they could even get started. Almost anything that was soft inside has popped right open.”

Not that Blade couldn’t tell. The floor all around them was slippery with a sickening mixture of blackish-brown and red fluid that was now also slicked all down Maru's front.

“How long, do you think?” Blade asked.

“Depends on him. He’s giving dying his best effort right now, but I’m giving my best to keep it from happening.”

Blade gave a soft “hn” and nodded slightly, his eyes having never left Dusty since entering the hangar.

“His gearbox -”

“I’ll look into that after I get his fluid levels under control.”

“So you’re going to give it a shot?”

“Sure I’m going to give it a shot, but Blade…” This time Maru turned away from his work and looked him square in the face. “You’re going to have to get a hold of his people back in Propwash Junction and figure out which one of them has his power of attorney. If I try to fix this and it doesn’t go the way we want, at best he’ll be crippled for the rest of his life. He’ll never fly again. Some decisions need to be made here.”

Something clutched at Blade’s inner workings. If he knew this kid, and Maru couldn’t make this work, then Dusty’s fate was sealed. If the damage from the crash didn’t kill him, then that surely would. Any aircraft’s ability to fly was practically their soul. He’d seen some simply waste away after being permanently grounded from an injury, their despair so great that all their remaining energies are simply put toward dying. Blade stifled a swallow.

“You’re having doubts?”

“I’m not doubting my abilities, I’m being realistic. There’s a difference. Call his people and let them know what their options are so that we can move forward.”

Blade slowly moved out of the repair bay and toward his own hangar so that he could have some quiet while he broke the news. He’d made these calls before, although most situations were very cut and dry. For most of the families or friends that he'd had to contact over the years, unlike Dusty’s, the decision had already been taken from them, so they were, in a way, spared that small mercy. Dusty’s situation was one that he truly would never wish on anyone. The first one to answer his call was his mechanic, Dottie.

“Yes, I read you, Blade, go ahead.”

“Alright.” He took a quiet breath. “I have... kind of a hard situation to talk to you about.”

“Oh my God. Oh no…” Dottie’s reaction was immediate, Blade could hear tears in her voice even though it sounded like she had covered her mouth over with her forks. He waited for her to regain her composure. “Is he…”

“No, but his condition is critical. His gearbox went out on him and he went down hard.”

“I figured as much.” she sniffed. “Always has to do everything 200% bigger than it needs to be, no matter what might happen to him.”

Blade’s mouth twitched up into a fleeting smile at that statement. If she only knew, but she probably did.

“Yeah I kind of got the impression that he has a penchant for running himself into the ground to whatever end he wants, too.” He heard Dottie give a sad, weak chuckle. “Anyway, Dusty’s situation is such that some pretty tough decisions need to be made. Do you know who hold’s his power of attorney?”

“Yeah, that would be me. We’ve known each other almost our whole lives, we grew up together. He entrusted it to me after he first won the WAGR.”

“Okay.”

Blade went over the same information that Maru had given him in the repair bay. Dottie was mostly silent, only asking a few questions here and there. He was glad to be discussing this with another mechanic.

“So we can go ahead and try to see if we can’t fix or rebuild his transmission system and hope he pulls through the operation in his condition. Replacing a gear box is no cakewalk, even under the best of circumstances. If we don’t, bringing Dusty back to any sort of quality of life would be impossible. Apart from that, he’s had extensive internal injuries, there’s severe damage to most of his frame, one of his wings was nearly dislocated; Dusty is in a coma right now, and we have no idea when he’ll wake up or if he’ll wake up at all. He may even end up suffering memory loss. The other option would be to just consider letting Dusty go, and end any suffering he’s already undergoing.”

There was a pause as Blade waited for all the information they discussed sink in. He heard Dottie take a shuddering breath. A moment more, and she spoke.

“I know how stacked the odds are against him… but I’m not ready let him go. Dusty has such a tremendous spirit. He never gives up on anything. I’m not going to give up on him just yet either. Just do what you can about his gearbox, but if you get to a point where it’s really looking like it’s not going to happen, don’t keep pushing it. Just…” Dottie began tearing up again. “Don’t make him wake up. Just let him go.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first little short that I ever wrote for the fandom. A bit depressing, I know, but at least we all know how it ends.


End file.
